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120081Re: [toyota-prius] Starter Battery Substitute?

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David Kelly

Jan 4, 2012

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On Jan 4, 2012, at 1:55 PM, Lee Hart wrote:

> On 1/3/2012 10:10 PM, Ed wrote:
>> It's time for me to get a new starter battery for my 2007 Prius and
>> I'm looking hard at this Lithium LiFePO4 battery. It's supposed to
>> be rated as PBEq meaning its a drop in replacement for a lead
>> starter battery.
>>
>> http://www.batterystuff.com/powersports-batteries/LFX09A2-BS12.html
>>
>> Does anyone know anything about these?
>
> Beware: The weight (1.23 lbs) tells me this is a "scam" battery, with a
> negligible amphour capacity. There's no way to get 12v at 9ah from 1.23
> lbs worth of LiFePO4 cells. At best, it's probably half this capacity.

Its not a scam, they say outright its "PBEq". But its exactly the same sort of fiction as the EPA's eMPG. The EPA would *never* scam, would they?

Basically the X-AH PBEq rating means this battery will start an engine similar to that of a conventional lead-acid battery of X-AH.

The 8 or 9 PHEq rated LiFePO4 batteries are typically built using 26650 cells, often from A123. In conventional terms these are 2.3 AH cells. Know the fine print on the Ballistic battery says as much. And the MSDS specifically lists A123 as the cell manufacturer.

My Ballistic battery has a special access connector, and Ballistic offers a special charger that when connected to this connector can individually charge and balance the cells in the battery. This charger is $70 or $80. Yes, I have one. No, I don't think the 4 cell 8 or 9 PBEq AH battery is sufficient for my Prius. I don't care enough to open the trunk of my Prius to try it, much less dig under the trim to reach my factory-installed battery.

--
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@...
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